# What plant/animal cross would you love to see? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 23, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562 "2006-11-23T17:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/1 "2006-11-23T17:15:36Z")
I’m sitting in my little home office, bored, killing some time before I eat copious amounts of turkey and relax for the afternoon tryptophan induced food-coma… I was wondering, if you could invent a planimal what would it be? For me, I would have a huge hairy oak tree that could walk and chill in a herd/grove, and move about where ever it saw fit. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/2 "2006-11-23T18:04:17Z")
A cat crossed with a rosemary plant - I love the smell of rosemary! ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/3 "2006-11-23T22:02:37Z")
A rose butterfly would be kind of cool. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/4 "2006-11-23T22:06:00Z")
I like the OP’s idea; a herd of trees, lowing quietly as their branches sway in the wind. Poetic. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/5 "2006-11-23T22:19:15Z")
I have often thought that a science-fiction iceworld could have an ecology based on what I call “windplants”. It works like this: in animals, muscles are organs that convert chemical energy into motion. A windplant would have organs that convert motion into chemical energy. The living part of the windplant would be buried either underground or deep within a highly insulated trunk. Fronds or tendrils would catch the wind and the movement of their tugging and flapping would be transmitted to the heart of the plant. Part of the energy would be converted into chemical energy for the plant to grow and the rest would generate heat to keep the heart of the plant from freezing. It would reproduce mainly through it’s root system, extending shoots to establish new colonies. Provided the wind blew steadily enough, such plants could grow in a permanently below-freezing environment, something no solar-dependent plant can do. They would provide food for herbivores, the herbivores for carnivores, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/6 "2006-11-23T22:33:41Z")
Cross octopi with trees. One version of the result, the Whomping Willow, would be a good guard plant, as shown in Harry Potter. Another might be an apple tree that could harvest itself. And throw fruit at interlopers. You might also get trees that could change colour at other times then in the fall. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/7 "2006-11-24T01:20:01Z")
[SHAMBLING MOUNDS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambling_mound) [TREANTS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treant) [VEGEPYGMY](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegepygmy) I’d like to turn all of these loose in the Amazon Rainforest, in large numbers. Let’s swee thoses loggers chop sumptin’ dat _chops back!!_ 🆒😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/8 "2006-11-24T01:23:21Z")
Venus Mantrap. The women of the world will be _mine! **ALL MINE, I TELL YOUMMMMMMMMMPH** _ ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/9 "2006-11-24T07:01:40Z")
A collieflower, of course! ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/10 "2006-11-24T09:05:11Z")
Cactipus. Bush-bush Baby or a monkey-monkey tree. How about a wallaby and a carrot? A Kangaroot. It would be cool to have a real Dogwood. It could fetch its own branches (females would be called a birch). Shrubopotamus. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/11 "2006-11-24T11:28:22Z")
Come with me son to the Magic zoogarden, where Flora and fauna commingle and mix The beasts can have bark, the trees all have hair And maybe the flowers will do a few tricks. Beware my dear child, when The tuliphant trumpets To wake up her mate in the zoogarden wild The aniplants there will stampede with a jump – it’s No place for either the meek or the mild. See how the pandaisies Eye us suspiciously The crocusodiles and the marsh-mallowhale Talk over the question of just how delicious we’d Taste with a garnish of parslemur tail. The kangarose travel in Herds of a dozen who Notice not tall leafy cabbagiraffe (Call him camelliapard if you want to But I think that’s being too clever by half). Bravely we’ll hunt the marine Hollyhocktopus Pet a peacocklebur; ride a phloxcart, If we have time we shall fight badgeranium And catch a tomatoad, ere we depart. Come with me son to the Magic zoogarden, where Flora and fauna combine by a stream Come with me quickly before we’re too old to share Fables and follies and foolish daydreams. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/12 "2006-11-24T15:31:00Z")
I’d like to see a sort of simple algae/social insect thing - small individual planimals that club together to do cool stuff as a colony. Actually, there are probably things a bit like this already - slime moulds, for example - but I’d like them to be a bit more motile. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/13 "2006-11-24T15:33:36Z")
Nice. Needs something upbeat and swingy. Better break out Noteworthy, 'cos I’m surely not going to try to follow that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/14 "2006-11-24T15:36:52Z")
I’d like to have a Venus cattrap. Not that traps cats; one that _is_ a cat. It’d be all purry and sweet unless you hit its whiskers twice, and then look out! Solve your bug problem, just keep it watered. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/15 "2006-11-24T15:59:03Z")
I’d like a lamb and mint cross (a Lint?) or cow and mustard plant cross (a Custard?..no…) Fingerlickin’ good… ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/16 "2006-11-24T16:46:19Z")
[QUOTE=SnakesCatLady] A cat crossed with a rosemary plant - I love the smell of rosemary! [/QUOTE] Or cross the same cat with catnip – you’d have a ticking mint-bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/17 "2006-11-24T23:44:21Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I’d like to see a sort of simple algae/social insect thing - small individual planimals that club together to do cool stuff as a colony. Actually, there are probably things a bit like this already - slime moulds, for example - but I’d like them to be a bit more motile. [/QUOTE] Discovery Channel had something like this on their Alien Planet special. It was a swarm/school of very tiny (water flea sized) aquatic creatures. When food got scarce they would form a sort of blob that could extend pseudopods out of the water and eat/dissolve any creature that came too close. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/18 "2006-11-25T00:05:49Z")
[QUOTE=Phlosphr] I’m sitting in my little home office, bored, killing some time before I eat copious amounts of turkey and relax for the afternoon tryptophan induced food-coma… I was wondering, if you could invent a planimal what would it be? For me, I would have a huge hairy oak tree that could walk and chill in a herd/grove, and move about where ever it saw fit. How about you? [/QUOTE] I want an animal that could kill yours – maybe high speed termites? You think I want a herd of oak trees ramblin across my property whenever? RRRRrrrrRRRRRrrrRRrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… That is the sound of my waiting chain saw. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/19 "2006-11-25T11:39:14Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] …You think I want a herd of oak trees **ramblin** across my property whenever? … [/QUOTE] (bolding mine) I believe the correct term is “lumbering.” ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562/20 "2006-11-25T12:45:22Z")
Ticks and a variety of flowers: carnations, roses, irises. They’d be living parasitic corsage/pets that don’t wilt and die. You’d have to have a few to rotate through during their “fall off and digest” phase, though. Crossing a cone snail with something cute and fuzzy…like a kitten or a chinchilla or gerbil would be fun in a sadistic sort of way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-plant-animal-cross-would-you-love-to-see/381562.md?page=2)